Redesign of MATLT Activity
The MATLT activity chosen for redesign comes from an activity in EDU609, Online Teaching Internship. I developed a course in CourseSites: Technical Writing, ENG321. In Module 1 of the course, an Assignment for Week 1 was introduced: Writing Collaboratively.
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Original Activity
The following information was presented for the original assignment activity:
Week 1 Assignment
Writing Collaboratively
Collaborating in technical communication through the use of memos, wikis, and blogs can bring technical writers together in a way that assists each writer in identifying his or her style, as well as the styles of fellow technical writers.
For this assignment, the class will be grouped into teams of 5 students. Each team will be responsible for creating a wiki and collaborating within the wiki to create a branching point of reference for shared knowledge.
Step 1: Select a free wiki site.
Search for a free website that will allow your group to create a few wiki. Some common free wiki sites are below:
Review the features offered by the wiki creation site, as instructions vary, but most should contain tutorials or instructions.
Step 3: Develop and collaborate on the wiki site.
Your group will collaborate to create wiki content that discusses what you will actually be doing – demonstrating teamwork through collaborating in technical communication by using memos, wikis, or blogs. In this particular case, you are using a wiki.
Step 4: Reflection
Using the information you read in Chapter 4, Writing Collaboratively, discuss the pros and cons of collaborating in technical communication. Describe the intent of a wiki and the intent of a shared document workspace and explain how a wiki draws upon the expertise and insights of those involved in a collaboration. Include information on culture and collaboration, and have each team member list a challenge to understanding cultural differences and how this might affect team behavior in collaborating. Each member of your group will also list some of your best and worst experiences participating in collaborative teams. Each person should choose one positive experience and one negative experience. Consider what made the positive experience a success, as well as techniques used to make the experience positive. Consider what actions or techniques led to the negative experience, and discuss how the negative experience could have been prevented.
Create a Word document with the names of all group members listed, using APA format. Include the link to your wiki and submit for grading.
The redesign of the activity demonstrates attainment of the Program Learning Outcome, “exemplify ethical practices of technology usage”.
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Redesign
The activity was redesigned as follows (steps 1, 3, and 4 were redesigned), adding various elements to each step of the assignment:
In the introduction of the assignment, additional information was included to cover considerations for the use of wiki technology in collaborating to complete the assignment:
Step 1, Code of Ethics: The Code of Ethics developed by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) was included in the course syllabus and reintroduced in this assignment to remind students about the property rights linked to patents and copyrights, the respect for privacy of others, and honoring confidentiality. The Code of Ethics will ensure students have a general framework for the online learning environment with its emphasis on civility of communication and using/sharing information (Toprak, 2010). The website provided to students was http://www.acm.org/about/code-of-ethics.
Step 3, Copyright Protection: Students were also reminded that in developing and collaborating on the wiki site, all internet material is protected by copyright, and everyone must adhere to the same guidelines as with creating a research paper when including content from the works of others within a blog, wiki, or web page. Students were provided with information from Creative Commons, at https://creativecommons.org. This site provides users with universal access to research and education, full participation in culture – to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity (About creative commons, 2007). Through the use of Creative Commons, students can obtain free copyright licenses to give the public permission to share and use their authentic work.
Step 4, Student Engagement with Academic Integrity Policies: Students (each individual group member was/) were required to restate the academic integrity policy as part of their initial wiki post, and respond to at least two posts from other members of the group. In Step 4, as students discuss the pros and cons of collaborating in technical communication, they will combine the pros and cons of ensuring academic integrity when collaborating. The discussion of collaborating in technical communication will go hand-in-hand with ethical considerations, as students will have the opportunity to explore ways to ensure positive experiences with collaboration when they adhere to academic policies and procedures to safeguard personal information and ensure fair use.
Principles and Theory Chosen
Instructional design principles chosen for the redesign of this activity included a focus on the learner, objectives, methods, and evaluation. The importance of ensuring the learner understands ethical expectations with the use of technology to complete assignments is the most critical aspect of the assignment itself. Learners can better master the objectives by understanding academic policies and procedures for ethical behavior. In deciding on the methods of instruction, the content that addressed collaborative technical writing also included ethical considerations. The content was delivered in a collaborative group setting and sequenced to assist all learners with achieving objectives. Students received assessment on their reflection of the overall collaborative experience, to include the adherence to academic policies and ethical behavior.
The theory chosen for this assignment was one of Gardner’s nine theories of multiple intelligence. Of those theories, I chose interpersonal intelligence, which deals with learners’ interaction and understanding amongst one another. In designing with impersonal intelligence in mind, it was easy to consider the moods, motivations, and desires that would aid learners in building solid relationships as they collaborated on wiki assignments and other online assignments involving group activities.
Design and Implementation Challenges Experienced
Design and implementation challenges experienced included researching various methods of safeguarding information and ensuring ethical practices with technology usage. There were several resources available to enhance the curriculum to provide student guidance and support throughout the assignments. It was not too challenging to incorporate ethical / academic policies and procedures into an assignment/ activity that already involved online collaboration between group members. It is already expected of groups that members contribute and communicate fairly. Going steps further to ensure fair use, proper attribution, and general ethical behavior enhanced the activity to create a stronger learning foundation where students could collaborate and feel secure in their contributions and the contributions of peers.
Ethical Issues
Some of the ethical issues students stand to face in completion of the assignment include plagiarism and dishonesty, which could involve impermissible collaboration. Students who collaborate to share information that is not their original work would be collaborating in an impermissible manner as well as committing plagiarism. Students are reminded that they must ensure they are properly citing sources and including information from acceptable sources, as well. Another ethical issue that students might face would include defamation, harassment, or free speech restrictions. Students must adhere to policies to ensure their posts and discussions are not offensive, inaccurate, or illegal in terms of defamation (libel and slander) to others. Students could be challenged to research displaying a disclaimer of sorts on the wiki site, to ensure proper handling of contributions to the site. The communication barriers that exist with collaborative technology usage include disciplinary communication barriers (miscommunication across disciplines such as science, math, or English), which might involve the standards of proof, the pace of the work, variations in expectations for the time dedicated, vocabulary used, or methods. Another communication barrier is cultural communication, which might involve differences in language or perspectives. All considerations with ethical issues that might arise were outlined in the syllabus and will be discussed throughout the course.
Conclusion
Exemplifying ethical practices of technology usage can be challenging for educators and for educational institutions. Essential measures to ensure ethical practices are adhered to include solid student support that defines academic integrity with clear guidelines and policies that explain the proper use of citations, permissible collaboration, institutional expectations, and instructor expectations. Additionally, instructors must provide grading rubrics that are specific and clear on grading criteria for every assignment, ensuring students understand exactly how their work will be graded. Within the curriculum, students should constantly be reminded of academic policies through completion of assignments that require discussions about academic integrity or restating policies / reflecting on ways to avoid ethical issues in assignments.
Combining the themes of digital citizenship is essential to ensuring the success of online collaboration using technology. With digital access, it is important to provide digital access to give equal rights to all. In a learning environment, it is important to select the best means of digital communication to collaborate to make the best use of learning using technology. Digital etiquette requires electronic standard of conduct or procedure, where users of technology are expected to behave with appropriate conduct in a digital learning environment. It is essential that we respect the digital rights and responsibilities of others, allowing each other the right to privacy and the freedom of speech. And finally, we must remember to protect our own privacy and personal information when communicating in a digital environment. We must ensure we are careful not to cause disruption to others or inappropriately misuse information without permission or rights (Ribble, 2013).
References
About Creative Commons. (2007, May 16). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://creativecommons.org/about
Ribble, M. (2013). Digital awareness: Using technolgoy appropriately. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html
Toprak, E. (2010). Ethics in e-learning. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – April 2010, Volume 9 Issue 2 ETHICS IN E-LEARNING 1, 9(2), 80-86. Retrieved October 08, 2015, from http://www.tojet.net/articles/v9i2/929.pdf
The MATLT activity chosen for redesign comes from an activity in EDU609, Online Teaching Internship. I developed a course in CourseSites: Technical Writing, ENG321. In Module 1 of the course, an Assignment for Week 1 was introduced: Writing Collaboratively.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Activity
The following information was presented for the original assignment activity:
Week 1 Assignment
Writing Collaboratively
Collaborating in technical communication through the use of memos, wikis, and blogs can bring technical writers together in a way that assists each writer in identifying his or her style, as well as the styles of fellow technical writers.
For this assignment, the class will be grouped into teams of 5 students. Each team will be responsible for creating a wiki and collaborating within the wiki to create a branching point of reference for shared knowledge.
Step 1: Select a free wiki site.
Search for a free website that will allow your group to create a few wiki. Some common free wiki sites are below:
- Google "Sites" (http://www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html)
- Wetpaint Entertainment (http://www.wetpaint.com)
- Wikidot (http://www.wikidot.com)
- WikiHow (http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page)
- Wikispaces for Educators (http://www.wikispaces.com)
Review the features offered by the wiki creation site, as instructions vary, but most should contain tutorials or instructions.
Step 3: Develop and collaborate on the wiki site.
Your group will collaborate to create wiki content that discusses what you will actually be doing – demonstrating teamwork through collaborating in technical communication by using memos, wikis, or blogs. In this particular case, you are using a wiki.
Step 4: Reflection
Using the information you read in Chapter 4, Writing Collaboratively, discuss the pros and cons of collaborating in technical communication. Describe the intent of a wiki and the intent of a shared document workspace and explain how a wiki draws upon the expertise and insights of those involved in a collaboration. Include information on culture and collaboration, and have each team member list a challenge to understanding cultural differences and how this might affect team behavior in collaborating. Each member of your group will also list some of your best and worst experiences participating in collaborative teams. Each person should choose one positive experience and one negative experience. Consider what made the positive experience a success, as well as techniques used to make the experience positive. Consider what actions or techniques led to the negative experience, and discuss how the negative experience could have been prevented.
Create a Word document with the names of all group members listed, using APA format. Include the link to your wiki and submit for grading.
The redesign of the activity demonstrates attainment of the Program Learning Outcome, “exemplify ethical practices of technology usage”.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Redesign
The activity was redesigned as follows (steps 1, 3, and 4 were redesigned), adding various elements to each step of the assignment:
In the introduction of the assignment, additional information was included to cover considerations for the use of wiki technology in collaborating to complete the assignment:
Step 1, Code of Ethics: The Code of Ethics developed by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) was included in the course syllabus and reintroduced in this assignment to remind students about the property rights linked to patents and copyrights, the respect for privacy of others, and honoring confidentiality. The Code of Ethics will ensure students have a general framework for the online learning environment with its emphasis on civility of communication and using/sharing information (Toprak, 2010). The website provided to students was http://www.acm.org/about/code-of-ethics.
Step 3, Copyright Protection: Students were also reminded that in developing and collaborating on the wiki site, all internet material is protected by copyright, and everyone must adhere to the same guidelines as with creating a research paper when including content from the works of others within a blog, wiki, or web page. Students were provided with information from Creative Commons, at https://creativecommons.org. This site provides users with universal access to research and education, full participation in culture – to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity (About creative commons, 2007). Through the use of Creative Commons, students can obtain free copyright licenses to give the public permission to share and use their authentic work.
Step 4, Student Engagement with Academic Integrity Policies: Students (each individual group member was/) were required to restate the academic integrity policy as part of their initial wiki post, and respond to at least two posts from other members of the group. In Step 4, as students discuss the pros and cons of collaborating in technical communication, they will combine the pros and cons of ensuring academic integrity when collaborating. The discussion of collaborating in technical communication will go hand-in-hand with ethical considerations, as students will have the opportunity to explore ways to ensure positive experiences with collaboration when they adhere to academic policies and procedures to safeguard personal information and ensure fair use.
Principles and Theory Chosen
Instructional design principles chosen for the redesign of this activity included a focus on the learner, objectives, methods, and evaluation. The importance of ensuring the learner understands ethical expectations with the use of technology to complete assignments is the most critical aspect of the assignment itself. Learners can better master the objectives by understanding academic policies and procedures for ethical behavior. In deciding on the methods of instruction, the content that addressed collaborative technical writing also included ethical considerations. The content was delivered in a collaborative group setting and sequenced to assist all learners with achieving objectives. Students received assessment on their reflection of the overall collaborative experience, to include the adherence to academic policies and ethical behavior.
The theory chosen for this assignment was one of Gardner’s nine theories of multiple intelligence. Of those theories, I chose interpersonal intelligence, which deals with learners’ interaction and understanding amongst one another. In designing with impersonal intelligence in mind, it was easy to consider the moods, motivations, and desires that would aid learners in building solid relationships as they collaborated on wiki assignments and other online assignments involving group activities.
Design and Implementation Challenges Experienced
Design and implementation challenges experienced included researching various methods of safeguarding information and ensuring ethical practices with technology usage. There were several resources available to enhance the curriculum to provide student guidance and support throughout the assignments. It was not too challenging to incorporate ethical / academic policies and procedures into an assignment/ activity that already involved online collaboration between group members. It is already expected of groups that members contribute and communicate fairly. Going steps further to ensure fair use, proper attribution, and general ethical behavior enhanced the activity to create a stronger learning foundation where students could collaborate and feel secure in their contributions and the contributions of peers.
Ethical Issues
Some of the ethical issues students stand to face in completion of the assignment include plagiarism and dishonesty, which could involve impermissible collaboration. Students who collaborate to share information that is not their original work would be collaborating in an impermissible manner as well as committing plagiarism. Students are reminded that they must ensure they are properly citing sources and including information from acceptable sources, as well. Another ethical issue that students might face would include defamation, harassment, or free speech restrictions. Students must adhere to policies to ensure their posts and discussions are not offensive, inaccurate, or illegal in terms of defamation (libel and slander) to others. Students could be challenged to research displaying a disclaimer of sorts on the wiki site, to ensure proper handling of contributions to the site. The communication barriers that exist with collaborative technology usage include disciplinary communication barriers (miscommunication across disciplines such as science, math, or English), which might involve the standards of proof, the pace of the work, variations in expectations for the time dedicated, vocabulary used, or methods. Another communication barrier is cultural communication, which might involve differences in language or perspectives. All considerations with ethical issues that might arise were outlined in the syllabus and will be discussed throughout the course.
Conclusion
Exemplifying ethical practices of technology usage can be challenging for educators and for educational institutions. Essential measures to ensure ethical practices are adhered to include solid student support that defines academic integrity with clear guidelines and policies that explain the proper use of citations, permissible collaboration, institutional expectations, and instructor expectations. Additionally, instructors must provide grading rubrics that are specific and clear on grading criteria for every assignment, ensuring students understand exactly how their work will be graded. Within the curriculum, students should constantly be reminded of academic policies through completion of assignments that require discussions about academic integrity or restating policies / reflecting on ways to avoid ethical issues in assignments.
Combining the themes of digital citizenship is essential to ensuring the success of online collaboration using technology. With digital access, it is important to provide digital access to give equal rights to all. In a learning environment, it is important to select the best means of digital communication to collaborate to make the best use of learning using technology. Digital etiquette requires electronic standard of conduct or procedure, where users of technology are expected to behave with appropriate conduct in a digital learning environment. It is essential that we respect the digital rights and responsibilities of others, allowing each other the right to privacy and the freedom of speech. And finally, we must remember to protect our own privacy and personal information when communicating in a digital environment. We must ensure we are careful not to cause disruption to others or inappropriately misuse information without permission or rights (Ribble, 2013).
References
About Creative Commons. (2007, May 16). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from https://creativecommons.org/about
Ribble, M. (2013). Digital awareness: Using technolgoy appropriately. Retrieved from http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/Nine_Elements.html
Toprak, E. (2010). Ethics in e-learning. TOJET: The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology – April 2010, Volume 9 Issue 2 ETHICS IN E-LEARNING 1, 9(2), 80-86. Retrieved October 08, 2015, from http://www.tojet.net/articles/v9i2/929.pdf